


Where the Demons Don't Hide

by LouieRambles



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Transcendence (Gravity Falls), Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-09
Updated: 2018-05-30
Packaged: 2019-03-28 21:35:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13912665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LouieRambles/pseuds/LouieRambles
Summary: Dipper hated this. The steady hiss of oxygen being forced into someone's lungs, the beep of a heart monitor, and the sobbing of a loved one. And the stupid soul in question wouldn't let him heal them, again.





	1. Chapter 1

Ronnie groaned loudly, allowing her head to flop down onto the table. When her younger siblings ignored her, she groaned even louder and kicked the table, making it wobble. Her next attempt was accompanied by a pained grunt, when Liam tossed his book at her. She squawked, indignant.

"We're _studying_ ," Petty hissed her voice low and hard.

At that, Ronnie lifted her head. "You mean _Liam_ is studying, while _you're_ reading a gossip magazine," she corrected, proven right when Petty blushed. "And remember, we wouldn't have had to be in school still if a certain _somebody_ hadn't thought it would be a good idea to eat _pineapples_ , despite being allergic to them!" 

This time, Liam blushed. 

Ronnie continued, only slightly mollified. "Why is it that do you two do that anyway? It's not like-" She was cut off when Petty snapped a hair tie at her. She blinked, once, twice, and then frowned down at the hair tie. On the one hand, she _could_ get mad at her little sister and swear bloody vengeance upon her. It would be easy, since she had more freedom at thirteen than they had at ten. She could go out, and get everything she needed to pull a prank without them ever knowing what was coming.

But, on the other hand, she looked at Liam. Petty was a twin - Ronnie would be outnumbered once the fighting began.

Petty and Liam. William and Fetty Thomas, her younger siblings, born three years after her. They were inseparable, and nearly identical in every way. From the brown of of their hair, right down to their prosthetic eyes. Again, Ronnie frowned.

Liam had lost his eye first. 

She'd had a _stupid_ argument with one of her friends when they were eight, and he'd told her that she would be sorry for crossing him. She, being the stupid child that she was, crossed her arms and told him that _he_ would be sorry if he ever crossed her. It would have been a fight that he would have lost, and they both knew it. So he went for the next best thing. 

Marcus cornered Fetty and William on the playing ground the next day, scissors in hand and a grudge in his heart. William left in an ambulance, one left eye short. 

Marcus left in another, with his scissors lodged in his thigh and a knitting pin through his shoulder, courtesy of Ronnie and Petty.

Three days after the doctors had told Mama that Liam was going to lose his eye, Petty landed in the hospital bed next to him, right eye injured beyond repair. That same day, Ronnie found a box on their doorstep. 

Inside it was a prosthetic eye and a note scrawled in old English, announcing that the eye belonged to Liam. But, the eye came with a catch. While it equipped its bearer with the Sight, it was only capable of seeing the bad. 

Which, in a roundabout way, was good? 

William didn't have the Sight before, and now he had an eye capable of it. And Petty had taken out the eye that allowed her to See the bad around her, so Liam's prosthetic eye made him her perfect equal. Almost.

When Ronnie gave their mother the box with an unaugmented prosthetic eye for Petty, their uncle was banned from the house for two weeks.

So she considered it her fault that-

"Stop it, Ronnie," Liam whispered, interrupting her self-depreciating inner monologue.

"Marcus was an asshole anyways," Petty added, flicking another hair tie at her.

She blinked, and looked between them. Her brother tapped his prosthetic eye, while her sister tapped her head.

Right. Liam could tell that she was getting upset, and Petty was smart. So she smiled, pushed the bad feelings down and said, "I'm telling Mama that you swore, you little gremlin you."

As expected, Petty grimaced. But Liam shot to his feet and grabbed his sister by the back of the sweater that he'd knitted for her, already reaching for Ronnie's hand. 

She was confused. Nothing seemed off, but here was her little brother, herding she and his twin away from the tables , trying to get to the other door and, and- _oh_. She saw it now.

Dragging her hand out of Liam's, she reached over and flicked him across his nose. 

To Conrad, her friend, she called out in her most chipper tone of voice, "Heya lover boy! Fancy seeing you here!" She ignored Liam's quiet hiss and pulled away from him completely, spinning to face Conrad.

Conrad was cool. They'd been friends since ze moved into her neighbourhood when they were both ten. She'd thought ze was sweet. Liam hadn't. He'd been the first to speak out when she'd announced three months ago, that they'd both gotten the lead roles in an old, pre-transcendental era play that their school was putting on. And sure, ze had been a bit creepy, but that had just made zir even more endearing.

 

But then ze'd started taking the stupid thing seriously. Um, no. Nu-uh, no way, she was only thirteen! She didn't even know if that teddy bear her uncle gave her last week was still her favourite! How was she supposed to choose between zir and her family? Why?

So she'd told zir off two weeks ago, telling zir that ze was being a little creep and that if ze didn't leave her alone, she'd get creative. Ze'd understood, offering to back off, if ze could remain her friend. Despite the warning bells going off in her head, she'd agreed.

The same warning bells that had been tinkling gently that time were clanging now. Carefully putting her younger siblings behind her, Ronnie put her hand on a table and tried to look casual. What she was really doing was making sure that Liam and Petty were fully covered. Conrad didn't need to know that though. Not one bit. Not even a teensy tiny little bit.

"You here admiring the scenery, or you looking for me? I told Mrs. Friedman that I had to be in the spare classroom to supervise my younger gremlins," she called. Her words bounced off the walls of the room and didn't that ring a few more bells? The thought that they were in an empty room, where Conrad would be able to do anything to them and nobody would know?

She gripped the star dangling from her pant pocket nervously and smiled. 

Conrad smiled as well, a grimace that looked more pained than Liam had looked the morning after losing his eye. Ze smoothed zir shirt with zir hands and replied, "I know."

For some reason, the sound of zir voice went straight to the part of her brain with the switchboard and flicked the one that said to 'Get the Flip-Flop Away Right Now'. Instead, Ronnie shifted again, covering Petty, who'd begun peeking around her. Mouth dry, she sputtered out a weak, "O- _oh_?"

Conrad nodded, looking down at zir hands wistfully. "Yeah," ze confirmed. 

Then ze looked up sharply, glaring at the space just below her left shoulder. Again, Ronnie moved to protect her siblings, shoving whoever behind her back with a single hand. "C-Conrad, you're kinda scarin' me here," she quavered, eyes flicking over to the door behind zir and then back at zir again. She stepped back, closer to the wall. "S-say something, please!" She was getting frantic.

"I know." Conrad kept the distance the same, stepping forward when she did. "I know where those two went wrong." His eyes darted to the space below her right shoulder this time. "Romeo and Juliet were wrong to try and get around their families," ze mused, detached. Ze looked at her face again. "They should have just gone through them."

Ronnie froze when Conrad reached behind zir and whipped out the weapon. It was old. Transcendence- era, she noted. Her uncle had gleefully informed them of the different types, and the effects that they could have on the human body. That was why she shrieked when she saw the rusted gun. 

She stumbled back, shoving Petty and Liam roughly, and oh stars, oh no, oh no, oh dear _star_ no. This wasn't- how did ze even get that, and what was ze going to _do_ with it and oh _stars _Ronnie didn't want to die.__

__Conrad tried to shush her, to tell her that it was okay, but she flinched, shrieking at zir._ _

__Ze was crazy. That was it. Ze was crazy and that thing wouldn't fire, ze was just trying to scare her-_ _

__The gun exploded. Her vision was roughly shifted to the right._ _

__The gun exploded and Liam fell to the ground in front of her, slightly to the left._ _

__Ronnie stopped mid-rant. She looked down at her brother, at the growing pool of blood around him. That was a lot of blood. She fell to her knees beside him, and heard his laboured breaths. Someone screamed._ _

__Had Liam really just shoved her to a side, to protect her from a bullet?_ _

__The same Liam who, until last year, wet his bed?_ _

__The same Liam who sung girly pop songs in the bathroom?_ _

__The same Liam who still sneaked into Mama's bedroom when he got nightmares?_ _

__Her little brother who knitted sweaters and baked cakes and cookies every Saturday? Her little brother who gave the funniest nicknames, calling their mom Shooting Star and their uncle Pine Tree?_ _

__The person was still screaming. She wanted to tell them to shut up. But then the voice registered as hers and she grabbed her brother by his bloody sweater. The cheerful yellow almost seemed offensive now._ _

__Ronnie screeched again as her eyes darted up to look at Conrad. Ze was smiling. Ze was smiling as she clutched her brother, looking like ze thought it was the most beautiful thing in the world._ _

__"What the fuck Conrad!" she shrilled, taking a bloody hand to swipe her bangs away from her eyes. When had they escaped from behind her ear? "Are you fucking crazy? You just shot my brother, you creep!"_ _

__Conrad frowned. "I did this for you, Love," he whispered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and um, _fuck_ no? "I did it so that we could be together, you know? " _This bud of love, by summer’s ripening breath, may prove a beauteous flower when next we meet._ "_ _

__Ronnie stared at him for a minute. She just stared. Then she burst into bitter laughter, because what the fuck?!_ _

__"You're a fucking psycho, you know that?" she shrieked when she was done. "You're a psycho and why the actual fuck would I even want to fall in love with you now!" She couldn't see. Tears blocked her vision, choking her up on those last words._ _

__Conrad seemed shocked, falling back a step. Then zir face hardened. And ze raised his gun again. "You're just saying that...You'll see, we're meant to be together."_ _

__Ronnie was suddenly reminded of her little sister. Her little sister, who had a history of throwing herself into danger, just so that she and her brother would be the same. Oh _stars_ no. Not Petty. No, no,no ,no, _no_! She couldn't lose Petty too!_ _

__She slammed herself against Petty's legs, throwing her to the floor, just as Conrad fired again. She was already shrieking again, begging and pleading with him, even before her sister hit the ground._ _

__Ronnie shook her head, sobbing the whole time. She was blubbering, without even noticing. Her mouth spat out words that she never would have said, had she been thinking. Stop, stop, stop, please don't kill her sister too, she'd do anything. She could be zir bride, yeah, they could run away together, if ze didn't kill Petty too. That sounded good, right? Ze'd like that, right?_ _

__Somewhere in the middle of her rant, Conrad had lowered zir gun. Now ze was smiling at her brightly. As if he hadn't just shot her brother and oh _no_ , she couldn't think about that again or she'd start panicking again and Conrad was talking, and she needed to-_ _

__"-really mean that, do you Ronnie?"_ _

__Taking a deep breath, Ronnie forced herself to smile and listened while the boy in front of her spoke. As it was, she only caught the tail end of whatever he'd been saying. Still. She was an aspiring actress. She could do ad lib, as her uncle had called it. She could do this. Her smile was a solid weight on her face. She was pretty sure that she wouldn't be able to smile after this._ _

__"Of course I really mean it, Connie," she chortled, voice wavering slightly. "We can get married, just like Romeo and Juliet!" She resisted the urge to tack on a slightly frantic, ' _just like you wanted,_ ' at the end of that. For some reason, she believed that that would have been counterproductive._ _

__"That's not what you were saying a minute ago." Conrad's eyes had gone hard again. Zir hand slowly inched upwards and it took everything inside Ronnie to stop herself from screaming at him. "You're just saying that to save your sister, Ronnie!"_ _

__And Ronnie flinched. Because yes, she was. She was most certainly saying that just to save Petty. Of course she was. But she needed to convince Conrad otherwise. So she licked her lips, tongue briefly flicking out of her mouth. "Y-yeah," she croaked, looking down. The next breath she took nearly choked her._ _

__The air was thick, heavy with the scent of blood. _Liam's_ blood. She couldn't do this. Not with her little brother on the floor. Not when he was struggling to turn his head to look at her, sucking raspy breaths through his lips. _ _

__Then he gave a choking, sobbing sound, and whatever trance Petty had been stuck in was broken. She flung herself to the floor, screeching and wailing, tugging on her twin's sweater. Soon enough, those screams were directed at Ronnie._ _

__Ronnie, do something, he's dying, call Uncle D, he could help, he'd save them, call Mama, call _anybody_ , just do _something_!_ _

__Ronnie...she couldn't do this. But she had to. She couldn't just call Uncle D here, that would raise questions, and didn't Petty _think_ that she'd thought of that?! And besides, Uncle D couldn't come to their school. Their dad had made sure of that. Not that the twins knew that. _ _

__Why'd Uncle D have to make a fair deal like that? He'd con then without a second thought if they let him, so why hadn't he found a loophole by now? Serio-_ _

__"You wouldn't be doing this if you loved me," Ronnie blurted. Her thoughts were swirling, tumbling over each other in a rush to get out. But one thought kept coming back. There was _always_ a loophole. Always a way out of any situation. _ _

__And she'd just found hers._ _

__"You saw how Liam pushed me out of the way," she pointed out. A strange, heady calm started pouring through her. "If you try to shoot my sister, I'll do the same." To prove her point, she grabbed Petty by the back of her sweater and dragged back, shielding her behind her back._ _

__There, she'd done it._ _

__Conrad stared at her like she'd gone crazy. Maybe she had._ _

__"Ronnie, sunshine," ze called, voice plagued with disbelief. "You wouldn't-"_ _

__"Try me, Conrad." Dragging Petty down with her, Ronnie tugged out one of her mothers experimental wards and slapped it onto Liam's stomach. Her brother only groaned weakly, eyelids fluttering briefly._ _

__Only the fact that the ward did its job and stopped the blood flow from the wound kept her calm._ _

__"Doesn't matter," Conrad snarled suddenly. Ze raised the gun again, pointing it at her. "We can be together I'm the next life, just like Romeo and Juliet!"_ _

__"Romeo didn't kill Juliet."_ _

__Ze took a step back. She stepped forward._ _

__"And when you kill me, the last thing I'll feel is hatred for you," she pressed. "Can you say that that won't carry over? That I won't hate you in the next life?"_ _

__"I...I-"_ _

__"What would you do then, Conrad? Would you kill me again?"_ _

__It felt like some morbid mirror of what had happened earlier. The way Conrad was retreating, the way ze was staring at her, was as if _she_ was holding the gun. As if _she_ had shot zir brother._ _

__"Just go Connie," Ronnie whispered, already falling to her knees beside Liam. "Go before the police get here."_ _

__Because there was no way that the security system hadn't alerted the police when the shot rang out. The protection wards would have only sped up the process. But, like Uncle D always said, the police never got there in time._ _

__Fucking ridiculous, it was._ _


	2. Chapter 2

Ronnie couldn't remember much of what happened after Conrad left.  


She remembered someone screaming, and the sounds of footsteps. She remembered the feel of her fists colliding with something that was strangely hard, but soft at the same time.  


A numbing cold settling into joints. Heaviness. She couldn't breathe. Why couldn't she breathe? There were hands around her throat. Was someone choking her? She tried to scream. All that came out was a gurgling whimper.  


Gentle hands in her hair. A man's voice, saying something.  


It sounded familiar. She tried to listen to it though the fog. It sounded nice and smooth, but she couldn't hear it properly. Why couldn't she hear it properly?  


Oh right. She was screaming. Maybe if she stopped, she would be able to hear?  


Ronnie stopped screaming she stopped long enough to hear the voice. But then the feeling of _choking, couldn't breathe_ slammed into her again and she started screaming once more.  
Pressure against her forehead. Her eyes shot open. She didn't remember closing them.  


Brown eyes greeted her.  


Another voice talking. This one wasn't as nice, and it made Brown Eyes pull away.  


Brown Eyes had fluffy brown hair and wore an old suit. For some reason, it made her eyes tear up. After that, she just...fell apart.  


Ronnie fell into Brown Eyes' arms with a wail. The next thing she knew, they were both on the floor and she was all curled up in his lap like she was seven again.  


"Z-ze...ze was-!" she choked. The words hurt coming out. It felt like they had claws, and They were sinking in, trying to stay hidden.  


Brown Eyes put his hands in her hair again. His chest rumbled comfortingly, spurring her on.  


"Ze was going to kill me!" Her throat started closing, collapsing on itself. She had to get it out before that happened! "Ze wanted to kill Petty, and ze killed...ze killed-!"  


Ronnie fell back, wheezing. Her chest felt tight, and her tears threatened to blind her. Brown Eyes was there, pushing her bangs away from her forehead and asking for her inhaler, his eyes flicking-  


Uncle Dipper. Thank the _stars_.  


She scrabbled to grab his 'lapels', shaking her head in response. Not having her inhaler should scare her. It really should. But uncle Dipper would help.  


Uncle Dipper let out a very outdated curse and pulled her into a straight-backed sitting position. His hands started rubbing circles into her back and his words started registering in her mind.  


_'Breathe Firecracker, just breathe.'_   


Ronnie tried. She wasn't sure how that worked out. But Uncle Dipper seemed happy with her attempts, so she _supposed_ that she hadn't done _too_ badly.  


_'Okay Cracker, that's good,'_ he continued, gold on black eyes fixed on a point over her head. _'Now, I need you to hold in one of those breaths.'_  


She could do that. She could hold it in.  


...Or not.  


The minute Ronnie tried to force her mouth shut, she started coughing. Uncle Dipper's eyes were wide. Too wide, in fact. He was forgetting how to human again.  


"Okay," he mumbled, pressing his forehead to hers. "Okay, um, okay Cracker, I need you to make a deal with me. You know I can't do more than this without a deal, and-"  


She tried to nod. It might or might not have worked out as well as she thought it would.  


His not-breath felt cold when he spoke next. "The candy from last Halloween - I'm going to need about half of that - in exchange for pulling you out of this attack, until you can get your inhaler. Deal?"  


Iconic blue flames flashed in her mind before she finished agreeing.  


"That was _three pounds_ of candy, Uncle D!" she moaned the minute the attack cleared up, just to be dramatic. Sitting up, she looked around the room, stiffening when her eyes fell on the other person in the room.  


Principal Maxwell Borden. Or, if she was feeling particularly generous -and she wasn't, by the way- her father. Not dad. Never dad. That was more fitting for Uncle Dipper.  


"What's _he_ doing here?" Ronnie hissed loudly, pointing her finger at him, as if Uncle Dipper needed clarification. Then her brain caught up and she blurted, "Negate that question. Where is _here_?"  


"A private waiting room at the hospital," Principal Borden supplied, frowning at her...no, wait, he was frowning at Uncle Dipper. "There was an incident at school, and William was injured by an old weapon."  


_Now_ he was _glaring_ at _her_ , and she did _not_ want to _think_ about that, Principal Borden was better off _not_ -  


"Karen, how did your brother get hurt like that?"  


Ronnie closed her eyes, breathing sharply through her nose. Her grip on Uncle Dipper's jacket had loosened a while ago. It returned in full force, threatening to break her fingers off.  
She couldn't do this.  


Burying her face in her uncle's jacket, she moaned again, more anxious this time. She didn't want to think about it. She didn't want to remember how Liam gurgled with each breath he took. She didn't want to feel the warm blood on her hands, getting stickier with each passing second. She didn't want to focus on Petty's screams, or the cold fear settling in her stomach. Nor did she want to see the gun, pointing at Petty, then at her own head...  


Uncle Dipper snapped, and she jerked back to look at him. He smiled down at her, then glared at Principal Borden.  


"Petty already had to be sedated because you got her worked up! Now you want to _kill Ronnie?" He looked down at her, eyes softening a little. "If you aren't ready to talk about it, then don't. Got that, Firecracker?"_  


Ronnie wanted to just curl up in Uncle Dipper's lap. But one thing she'd learned from all those police shows was that she'd have to talk to the police, sooner or later. And she wanted to do this on her terms. She just, couldn't do it, she-  


-was an actor. She could do this, same as she'd done when she'd threatened Conrad. She just...had to find her inspiration, her-her muse!  


Just needed to find something to motivate her to tell Principal Borden and Uncle Dipper that Conrad had killed her brother. This would have been so much easier if she was in one of her plays! Like the one with that guy, what was his name again? Hambone? Hamilton?  


Whatever his name was, she only needed to channel the ghost from it to-  


The room got warmer, and Ronnie could have sworn that the skies had opened up and sunlight had shone on her dramatically.  


Conrad had killed her brother. The man from the play had had his father killed by his uncle. She could _use_ that.  


And she wasn't going to channel a ghost. Gritting her teeth, Ronnie brought her hands up to her eyes and ground the heels against them.  


"Conrad, he...ze killed Liam," she hissed. It was easy to get angry. All she had to do was think about how Conrad had killed her brother. How ze'd taken away something that belonged to her, all because ze felt that ze was _entitled_ to her. "Ze was going to kill Petty!"  


Her too, but the price for violence towards her siblings was more severe than it was for herself.  


Uncle Dipper stiffened and Principal Borden narrowed his eyes, despite his expression softening.  


"Liam didn't die, Ron," he soothed, taking a step towards them. "You did good, putting that ward on the wound." He was crouching in front of her now, and with a glance at Uncle Dipper, he pulled her into a hug. "It was one of your mother's, wasn't it? Did you help her with this one? Remember how you used to help her make them? And-"  


"I'm not going to have another asthma attack," Ronnie snapped, pulling away from Principal Borden. She was far from another attack. She was she was better than ever actually, now that she had a role to play. "Where's Ma?"  


She made certain that she didn't meet Uncle Dipper's eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a short chapter, but it seemed right to end it here. I don't know. Since this is one of my first, I'd like if you could let me know where I'm going wrong or right...
> 
>  
> 
> On a side note, I think I'm getting the hang of this!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like reading long chapters. I like writing them, on my own time. But doing it on demand is hard!

Ma didn't want Ronnie and Petty camping out at the hospital while Liam recovered.  


Normally, Ronnie would have no problem babysitting her younger siblings while Uncle Dipper house sat. Normally, one of the twins wasn't in the hospital. Normally Ronnie wasn't a nervous wreck, jumping at the slightest sound. Normally, there wasn't a murderous psychotic despot running around. Normally she wasn't aware that a psychotic despot lived two houses down from her.  


Having Uncle Dipper around was normally enough.  


But after he blipped out to answer a summoning that first night? Well, home wasn't feeling so safe anymore.  


Principal Borden was more than willing to take them in for the time being. His wife was a little too glad to meet them, if Ronnie was being honest.

____________

 

The first night, Ronnie didn't sleep. Neither did Petty. Instead, they huddled together down in the kitchen, wedged into a tiny space between two cupboards. Morning came, and it brought with it frantic shouts, running feet and slamming doors.  


When Solana came rushing into the kitchen, eyes wide and breathing heavy, she just blinked slowly.  


She expected the woman to rage at her. She expected her to seethe and hiss at them for making her worry.  


With a start, Ronnie realised that she _wanted_ her to get angry.  


Solana was a disappointment though.  


Instead of getting mad, she sighed in relief and sat down in the middle of the doorway. Her voice warbled when she called, "Max...Max, they're alright." She gave a choking sob. "They're in the kitchen!"  


Before she'd finished her statement Principal Borden skidded into the kitchen. Bits of white stuff from his face dripped down onto the floor when he braced himself against the counter top.  


If she weren't so tired, Ronnie might have found something to laugh at in this situation. But, as it was, she was really tired and the only thing she could do was blink. And stifle a yawn. Anything else would need the energy that she didn't have.  


For a while, all she and Principal Borden did was stare at each other. Then he sighed, releasing his tight grip on the counter. His voice was gruff in the sort of way that she hadn't heard since she was five when he finally spoke.  


"No school today then?"  


Petty snorted. "Got it in one," she snarked stolidly when Principal Borden and his wife looked at her.  


Ronnie didn't fault her. She felt like snapping at their father too. But, like Ma had always said, it wasn't because they didn't have a tongue that some animals couldn't speak*.  


So she kept quiet while Principal Borden and his wife fussed over them. And, when Petty went down in the afternoon, Ronnie started planning. She had a moon to catch**.

____________

 

The second night, Ronnie slept, tired out from two nights of keeping watch.  


She dreamt of grabbing hands emerging from the black and keeping her away as Liam was shot. Smothering her when Petty hit the floor, dead. The gun turned on her. She tried getting away from them, but the minute she stepped away she was falling

Down, down

down.

Falling faster

all the 

way 

d

o

w

n

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

 

Ronnie hit the ground. What little breath she had left in her body after that was forced out when a heavy boot slammed down in her back. A new type of fear spread through her and suddenly she was older - she was begging.  


No, no, no, no, please don't kill her, she had children, he couldn't do this to her- to them, they still needed her-  


She was yanked upwards, something hard and cold wrapped around her neck. She was little, she was gasping, she was choking, she was sobbing in the darkness when her abdomen erupted. Fiery tendrils of pain ripped through her as she bled out. Blue flames sprang up from the floor when her blood touched it, revealing a summoning circle.  


The familiar demonic voice rumbled around her, "Fools, you dare to summon-"  


Ronnie closed her eyes and for some reason, she could see. Her eyes were open and she was looking at him. At the fledgling demon in front of her.  


She felt calm, even as Uncle Dipper reached into her chest and ripped out her soul while Petty - no, not Petty, she was Amy, she was Bridget, Beatrice, Perez, Sensia, Phoebe, Paige, Prudence, Paxton, Maverick, Nixon, Nichole, Ottley, Piper, Paul- watched.  


When he turned to her, Ronnie screamed.

She hit the floor with a scream on her lips.  


Pain- _real_ pain- ripped through her arms when she hit the floor.  


Ronnie's first instinct was to scream for her Uncle Dipper. But then she remembered echoing undertones as she died slowly and cold, gold on black eyes looking on impassively while stealing her soul.  


She took a deep breath and then ran. Her bedroom door couldn't unlock fast enough to open for her, and wound up banging against its force protector. Principal Borden's door opened a second later and his wife ran out.  


"Karen, what-"  


Ronnie shoved past her and continued down the passageway. Petty's room was at the end, on the other side of Principal Borden and Solana's room. What had seemed like a good idea before seemed absolutely torturous.  


Scrabbling to open the door, Ronnie fought to not think about Petty dying. She tried her best to forget overlapping faces, the first few bloody and twisted. Instead, she thought of soft sweaters and glitter and glasses. She thought of gentle eldritch rumbles and soft wool and sheep with too many eyes.  


She thought of weekends spent devouring sugary cereals and watching old reality shows with Uncle Dipper. Of staying up late, practicing until she got her lines _just_ right.  
The door opened.  


She thought of family dinners filled with laughter. Of how Petty and Uncle Dipper would inevitably find some way to play with their food. She saw how food would get everywhere, and Uncle Dipper would be in the middle of all that chaos. How her little sister-  


The room was empty.  


\- was covered in blood. Liam's blood was red and thick and alive, greedily soaking into everything. Her clothes her hair her skin and then it was Petty's-  


Ronnie screamed. She called for Uncle Dipper and when he didn't come immediately, she bit her lip hard enough to draw blood and then shoved the long sleeves of her fuzzy pajama shirt into her mouth. The summoning circle sewn into the hem of each sleeve soaked up the blood immediately.  


There was no dramatic entrance, no hesitation or pomp and grandeur. Just the signature _pop_ , and then he was there.  


Golden brickwork pulsed over a pitch black body as Uncle Dipper burst into existence, crouched and ready to pounce. Acrid smoke billowed from his mouth as he snarled, gnashing rows of sharp teeth. His claws shredded the carpet to thin ribbons that unfurled in the mini-storm caused by the agitated flap of his enlargened wings.  


"I s̨̛w̸͜e̷̛ar͏ , if anybody hurt my Firecracker, there's going to be ҉h̷͞el̴l to pay!"  


The unearthly rumble seemed to warp the very fabric of reality, forcing it out of shape with the magnanimity of the anger it contained.  


It was terrifying, and everything that Ronnie needed in that moment. With a choking sob and no consideration for his sharp claws, she threw herself at her uncle.  


"Petty, sh-she's not h-here!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ronnie's reference to animals not speaking for lack of a tongue and catching the moon are from two Caribbean proverbs. The Creole English doesn't really translate to Standard English well, but the meaning is the same either way.  
> *It's not because the cow doesn't have a tongue why it can't/don't talk.  
> **The moon can/will run until the day catches it.


	4. Chapter 4

Maxwell sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time. There were so many other places that he could be doing this, but none of them seemed quite right.

Then again, neither did his front room.

But he needed to do this, and having the other refuse because of his lack of hospitality was not acceptable. The scoff that that thought produced was noteworthy.

What basis did a demon use to judge when it came to hospitality? People summoned them in dank basements and filthy, abandoned buildings, for crying out loud!

He ground his teeth together. This wasn't the time for second thoughts or complaints.

Solana had taken Karen and Fetty to the hospital around an hour ago, and they could only stay for so long. The girls weren't sleeping properly, and the events from a few nights ago couldn't be repeated. Karen had all but had an asthma attack after she discovered her sister's empty bed. Fetty unfortunately slept like the...was a heavy sleeper, so she hadn't woken up when her older sister had fallen off her bed.

Of course, he'd been relieved to find that his supposedly missing daughter had been asleep under her sister's bed. He couldn't be blamed for not liking the reason behind it though. In fact, Maxwell reserved that right and no one could take it away from him.

So he could forgive himself for what he was about to do. Despite being divorced for ten years, and not seeing the circle for more, drawing the circle came easily. When he'd been young, foolish and in love, he'd drawn it enough times to do it in his sleep. Seven large, individual circles, plus the extra three for the rudimentary binding. Then came the smaller ones and the symbols that accompanied them.

Triangle.

Pine tree.

Axe.

Fire.

An eyeball.

The thing that looked like a Trancendental style crucifix.

A shooting star.

A fish with an open mouth? Maxwell could never figure it out.

Once that was done, he got out the candles and the bowl of candy.

Luckily, he didn't bite his tongue while reciting the Latin chant. Alcor of course, didn't disappoint.

The temperature in the room dropped, and the candles began to give off an eerie blue light. Smoke poured out the circle, filling the room and making Maxwell choke and cough.

From the smoke, a chilling voice rumbled, "Wh̵̕o̵̴̡ ̴҉d͢a҉͜r̶̨͟e̢͟s̵͘͘ ͝to̢ ̴̛͟s̸̵̕ư͠m̵̴̢mon̴̶̕ A͘lc͘or҉ ̸͞th̨͏̧e̶̛͠ Dr͡e̵am͢b̢̕e̸͟n̨͢d͘͘e̸̕r҉?͜ "

Still coughing, Maxwell raised an arm. Whether it was in an attempt to draw his ex-wife's 'demonic brother's ' attention or an attempt to clear the smoke, he wasn't sure. What he was sure of was what his speech would start with.  
"Smoke and terrifying sound effects," he pointed out, "I hope you don't do this when Karen summons you?"  
"Only when she asks," Alcor said, demonic reverb dissipating with the smoke. His wings shrunk considerably, and the bricks fell away. "What inspired this _wond͟erf͘ul̢_ visit?"  
Straight to business then. That was familiar ground, something that he knew.  
Standing up, Maxwell tipped his head back and stared at the demon. In the back of his mind, he cursed at the fact that he even had to look up at the shorter being. He wasn't used to looking _up_ at people. At the forefront of his mind though, was the purpose of this transaction. He might have forgotten to actually _interact_ with his children in daily life, but he never forgot them or put them at the back of his mind.  
"The girls aren't sleeping" he started. "As you know, the other night, Fetty hid under Karen's bed when she had a nightmare, and when Karen went to check on her younger sister, she almost had an asthma attack because she thought her sister was missing." Here he paused, waiting for an acknowledgement from the demon. When the demon nodded, he continued. "The night before that, they both stayed up, keeping watch in the kitchen. The night b-"  
"I know what happened," Alcor interrupted, eyes narrowed. "What I want to know is why you summoned me."  
"I need your help." Maxwell didn't hesitate, despite the bad feeling caused by the admission. Then, despite his hammering heart, he held out a hand. "I want to make a deal. You'll get rid of all the girls' nightmares and in exchange I'll annul our previous deal and give you free reign of the school and limited access to my house." The minute the last word left his mouth, Maxwell paled.  
He shouldn't have said that. He gave a _demon_ permission to wander a _school_ as he pleased. And _oh stars_! He should have specified that he wanted his girls safe and unharmed, physically _and_ mentally, when Alcor dealt with their nightmares. He should have- stars and galaxies, what had he _done_?  
But he couldn't show that he'd even noticed, or thought any of that. So he looked forward and kept his head high, hoping in vain that the demon hadn't noticed his blunder. Of course, the tiny voice at the back of his mind reminded him, whether he noticed or not wasn't the problem. It was whether or not he'd act on it.  
Maxwell resolutely squashed it.

Alcor, for his part, just sat back and stared at him blankly. "The last time you summoned me, you were trying to keep me away from the school, in exchange for your silence." His wings began to give a few, half- hearted beats. "Now you're making vague deals and giving me permission to enter the school as I wish?" His wings began to beat faster. "Your deals used to be so _clean_ His wings stilled. "Just _how _desperate are you?"__

__Maxwell made a face. "Very."_ _

__The demon side-eyed him. "Relax, stop looking so, so..." Here, he waved a hand in the air above his head. "What colour is that even?"_ _

__Alcor wasn't his best friend anymore. They couldn't even be considered to be 'friends' for a little bit under ten years. But there was something to be said for having grown up with someone. Without thinking, he reached into the circle and shoved him gently, smiling all the while. "It's called: 'I Don't Have the Sight, So I Can't Tell You'."_ _

__It was just like back then._ _

__Like he was ten and wasting time with Miranda and Alcor in her bedroom after school, braiding the demon's ridiculously long hair instead of doing homework. Like there wasn't ten years worth of resentment between them._ _

__Needless to say, Maxwell froze. He looked at the hand and tried to memorize the shape and colour of it. He'd need the knowledge for his prosthetic, because he wasn't rich. There was no way he'd be able to afford one of those fancy, new Nu Tissue ones regrown from the stump of the previous limb. He'd settle for a regular one from the local print shop.  
When he was satisfied that he'd mapped his arm as best as he could, Maxwell stepped back. He kept his arm out in front of him, just in case Alcor actually wanted to rip it off. Hopefully, if he offered as little resistance as possible, he'd only sustain minimal damage._ _

__The Dreambender stared at him, eyes blown comically wide. Then he looked down at the area where Maxwell had punched him and said in a small voice, "Deal." He looked up. "I'll do it." And then he disappeared with a subdued _pop._ _ _

__

____

___________ _

____

__That night, Maxwell woke up from his nightmare gasping. The house was alive with the sound of near silence._ _

__The soft snores of his wife made most of his panic fade away. Images of her bloody, broken face faded away, replaced with the image of her sleeping. His children remained, full of holes and dead. Very much dead. He needed to see them. He needed to know that they were okay. Getting up slowly, he eased out of bed and padded out into the hallway._ _

__Outside, he paused. Karen's room was on his right, and Fetty's was on his left. On the one hand, the attack had been directed at Karen. On the other hand, it was Fetty's twin that had been shot. Granted, both cases could be reversed and still fit..._ _

__...maybe he should have just put both girls in the same room. That would have saved him so much time._ _

__But, then again, Karen was thirteen. And all those parenting books he'd devoured the day his daughters came over said that teenagers liked their privacy. Granted, he'd never been big on having his own space. Living in a large house with too many rooms tended to have that effect on a child._ _

__The door on his right opened, breaking his reverie. Karen poked her head out and squinted in his direction. The light from her luminescent highlight cast a gentle glow around her, turning her skin violet where the light touched._ _

__Maxwell opened his mouth, wanting to ask why she was awake and dreading the answer. What came out instead was a callous, "Highlights that emit light are against the school rules." His face flushed. He hadn't meant to say that, not one bit. But, before he could take it back, Karen frowned._ _

__"I'm...not in school." One of her hands went up to toy with the section of hair. But I'm sorry?"_ _

__The way his daughter was looking at him made Maxwell feel like the worst person on the earth. He swallowed. "For the record, I did not mean to say that."_ _

__Karen lifted an eyebrow and leaned against the door. He took that as his sign to continue._ _

__"You're up early."_ _

__Karen made a funny sound and shifted her weight. She looked down, and her voice warbled as she mumbled, "Couldn't sleep."_ _

__His heart dropped. Alcor had tricked him. There was no other solution. In his deal, he'd never specified which nightmares he wanted the girls to be rid of. In fact, he hadn't even specified how long he wanted them gone. He was an idiot._ _

__Out loud, he mused, "Nightmares?"_ _

__Karen nodded, and then shook her head. One of her hands came up and she used it to make an outdated gesture. She slowly tilted her hand, which she mostly held parallel to the ceiling, in both directions as she raised her shoulders._ _

__Alcor had done that a lot, when Maxwell had been younger. He tried to suppress the brief pang of jealousy that ran through him._ _

__Alcor spent time with the children outside of school. Alcor was 'rubbing off' on the children He'd wanted to have that kind of relationship with his children._ _

__Upset, but trying hide it, Maxwell nodded. "If it makes you feel any better, I had one too," he supplied easily. Hesitantly though, he added, "If you want to talk about it, we can." He didn't. But if Karen wanted, they would. The parenting book had said that parents should be open to discussion._ _

__That didn't stop his sigh of relief when Karen shook her head and mumbled, "I..actually I...the nightmares aren't coming." She made a face and looked down at her bare feet. Her toes glowed blue in the dim light of the hallway. Enough to illuminate the band around the largest toe on her right foot, that carried her personal information. "It's- it feels...wrong."Even though it should be nearly impossible to see in the dim lighting, Maxwell was sure that she was blushing._ _

__"That's good," he hummed, nodding. And it really was. He didn't notice how bad that sounded until after he said it. When Karen's head snapped up, fawn-like eyes blown wide in in disbelief._ _

__Disbelief, and something else. Something...unkind. He wasn't sure what it was, but he didn't like it. Fumbling for a way to smooth that statement over, he stuttered, "N-not that I mean its good that you can't sleep! I-I was trying to say, that is-"_ _

__Karen was laughing at him. Not really laughing, but still. It was enough to make Maxwell go red._ _

__Not for the first time, he cursed his naturally pale skin, and wished for a darker skintone, more like Fetty's and William's, or Miranda's._ _

__Thoroughly embarrassed, he threw his hands up to the ceiling. When they came back down, he pointed behind him, at Fetty's door. "Would you like to come with me while I go check on your sister?"_ _

____

___________ _

____

__"Principal Borden? Have you seen Bear-O?"_ _

__Maxwell lowered his cup of coffee and tried not to flinch. That Transcendence- Era abomination disguised as a children's toy was conveniently shoved under the couch in the living room. But, to tell that to Fetty would be like admitting to the crime. So he turned around to face her, and examined the way her gravity- defying hair seemed smaller. When he opened his mouth, thankfully, he spewed some nonsense about her hair and some obscure school guideline that even he found to be ridiculous._ _

__His daughter blinked slowly, then shrugged and lowered another bar stool so she could join him at the breakfast area. "He'll come back eventually."_ _

__Sagely words of advice given, she began playing with a loose thread on the tattered sweater around her waist._ _

__Since she seemed content to sit in silence, Maxwell returned to his coffee. He'd hidden that demonic terror after being dragged out of his dreams by the sound of his wife's screams. Only to join her when he took note of the toy sitting on his feet._ _

__Let Alcor try and prank him now! Concerned as he was with thoughts of possible hiding places for that wretched doll, Maxwell forgot about the younger of his two daughters._ _

__He tossed his mug of coffee into Alcor's face just as he popped in, when Fetty plopped the doll down onto the counter in front if him._ _

__"Found him!" She chirped happily."I must have dropped him on the floor when I fell asleep last night!"_ _

__She did no such thing but, again, Maxwell refused to tell her otherwise. Instead, he cast a side eye at Alcor._ _

__The Dreambender seemed unnaturally calm, considering that he'd just had a mug of coffee tossed at him. In fact, Maxwell would almost say that he looked nervous._ _

__He blinked._ _

__Alcor didn't seem nervous. He was nervous. And, by the way he was staring at Fetty's...toy, that was the cause._ _

__Oh, the things he could do with that..._ _

__Bear-O spluttered, and Maxwell changed his mind. Let Fetty keep that abomination from the Dreamscape. He'd find some other way to get back at the Dreambender._ _

___________ _

__There'd been some complications with William's surgery, forcing the doctors to resort to older medical practices. Something about the age of the bullets used wrecking tissues, and that the procedure was very time consuming and expensive._ _

__Maxwell didn't really care. He'd hand out millions, if it meant that his son healed up properly. And he had access to millions. Not that it made any difference to the nurses at the front desk. With the way the young gargoyle was staring at him, he'd be lucky to only get thrown out of the hospital, if he didn't restrain his daughters._ _

__Smiling at them, Maxwell reached out and dragged Fetty closer to him. She glanced up at him with suspicion in her eye, but shrugged it off quickly. Karen, on the other hand..._ _

__"Karen!" he hissed, trying and failing to pull her down into the seat beside him. While her rendition of her lines were good, this was neither the time nor place for them. "Karen, sit down before you get us thrown out!"_ _

__She was ignoring him. Maxwell was certain of it. She was ignoring him and he had no leverage to use against her.He put his head in his hands and waited to be thrown out of the hospital.  
"Liam says that if you don't sit down, he's going to resort to drastic measures when he gets out."_ _

__Maxwell glanced over at the younger of his daughters. Her eyes were trained on her phone. Judging by the snippet of conversation that he'd seen before the privacy setting kicked in, she'd taken pity on him and went to get help. Why she'd chosen her brother -_ _

__Karen shut up and practically collapsed into her seat. She crossed her arms and glared at her sister. "Snitch."_ _

__Fetty smiled. " _Wuss."_ _ _

__

__He didn't know what either of those words meant, but he was almost certain that they were meant to be insulting. Groaning, he motioned to the nurse._ _

__

__Forget taking these little monsters to see their brother. He'd get Alcor to bring them later. If the demon could teach them to swear, then he could deal with their fighting. Maxwell was quitting._ _

__

**Author's Note:**

> If I hold onto this chapter for any onger, I'm pretty sure that I'll delete it for some reason or another. So here, I present to you another chapter!


End file.
